The English-Vernacular Divide: Postcolonial Language Politics and Practice (Bilingual Education & Bilingualism, 49)

Review Ramanathan’s study shows how we need to consider the full range of local contingencies of class, caste, ideology and practice. -- Alastair Pennycook, Professor of Language in Education, Faculty of Education, University of Technology, Sydney Product Description This book offers a critical exploration of the role of English in postcolonial communities such as India. Specifically, it focuses on some local ways in which the language falls along the lines of a class-based divide (with ancillary ones of gender and caste as well). The book argues that issues of inequality, subordination and unequal value seem to revolve directly around the general positioning of English in relation to vernacular languages.  The author was raised and schooled in the Indian educational system. About the Author Vaidehi Ramanathan is an Associate Professor in the Linguistics department at the University of California, Davis She was raised and schooled in the educational system she writes about and she has been involved in issues related vernacular and English language teaching for several years in a variety of contexts, including teacher-education. Her publications include: The Politics of TESOL education  (RoutledgeFalmer) and Alzheimer’s discourse: some sociolinguistic dimensions (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates).